Solved Happy with my new background switcher

I have all but given up on Windows Spotlight, and Picture for the background. Obviously the picture does not change, and if Spotlight is on, ads appear.

Well I decided to look around and found John's Background Switcher. I installed it and have been happy camper since. It allows me to choose a source for the images. In this case I chose two sources; Unsplash and Wallhaven. I use Unsplash for Astronomy images and Wallhaven for Landscape images. No ads and the Background image will change every hour. I have put a Lockscreen image of my choice, but JBS will allow the Lockscreen to be the same as the current Background.

If you are like me and do not fancy Windows 11 Lockscreen or Background, give John's Background Switcher and try. You can download it from the Microsoft Store, but it might also be available on his web site. Just do a Google for John's Background Switcher.

Thanks,
Brian D

Good that you found something. I might take a look

In case you’re interested:

Thanks, antspants, but I have been there and try those for several days and posted my results. I swear it must be my machine, but just left well enough along and moved on. So far JDS is working like a champ. I think I will be happy with it.

Thought I'd just mention that are other means of background images apps.

BD253 said:

Thought I'd just mention that are other means of background images apps.

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Absolutely, Brian, thanks for the heads up

Just a heads up for some people, on any system I've tried to use John's switcher on, it can fail in large folders. One of the folders I use on my gaming laptop has about 3,200 photos in it - and John's program only seems to see about 40 or 50 of them and they are the only ones that get cycled. Whether I point it to the folder itself, or if I select all the JPG files themselves instead, I'm still stuck with a limited amount. Worked with the programmer and he couldn't figure out why either. But it's about the best option out there with all the options and features...

JDThird said:

Just a heads up for some people, on any system I've tried to use John's switcher on, it can fail in large folders. One of the folders I use on my gaming laptop has about 3,200 photos in it - and John's program only seems to see about 40 or 50 of them and they are the only ones that get cycled. Whether I point it to the folder itself, or if I select all the JPG files themselves instead, I'm still stuck with a limited amount. Worked with the programmer and he couldn't figure out why either. But it's about the best option out there with all the options and features...

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Are the pictures that fail to display blocked?

One of the few paid apps that I use, Display Fusion handles not only changing my background every 30min, it also handles my screensaver as well as darkening the other monitor in my two monitor setup if I'm not using it.

To me, it's a must-install every time I reformat my system.

Rollback_Jockey said:

Are the pictures that fail to display blocked?

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Nope. Just a local folder on my gaming laptop. No issues with anything else viewing them. Had the same problem on my Surface Pro as well, different folder that I display on that one though since I'm at clients with it. Only have the issue when I'm in a folder with more than a thousand or so photos.

Taliseian said:

One of the few paid apps that I use, Display Fusion handles not only changing my background every 30min, it also handles my screensaver as well as darkening the other monitor in my two monitor setup if I'm not using it.

To me, it's a must-install every time I reformat my system.

Click to expand...

I'll have to look into this. Can it do it in less than 30 minute intervals? Thanks!

Taliseian said:

One of the few paid apps that I use, Display Fusion handles not only changing my background every 30min, it also handles my screensaver as well as darkening the other monitor in my two monitor setup if I'm not using it.

To me, it's a must-install every time I reformat my system.

Click to expand...

Disregard my previous question, downloaded and installed on my Surface Pro here at work with my 49" OLED curved external monitor as the second one. I'll install it on the gaming laptop when I'm home as well. I like that this does so much more than just the wallpaper, some things that I deal with myself with regedits anytime I rebuild a laptop or computer. And it's half price on sale for a lifetime license... Once I verify that it does the larger folders full of images better than the other one, I'll be happy to give this developer my money. THANK YOU for the recommendation!